Russia Export Controls, Sanctions Having ‘Undeniable’ Impact, US Official Says
U.S. sanctions and export controls are having a “severe” impact on Russia even though Moscow has continued its war in Ukraine, said Erik Woodhouse, a senior sanctions official with the State Department. Woodhouse said the U.S. is hoping the restrictions eventually force Russia to reverse course and expects the impacts to grow over time.
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“That we have not yet been able to change [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's calculus is obviously critical. That is the conflict we are trying to resolve and address,” Woodhouse said during a June 10 event hosted by the Atlantic Council. “But I think that when it comes to the bottom line in terms of our sanctions having the intended impact, I think it's undeniable they're having an impact.”
Woodhouse, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for counter threat finance and sanctions, said the “depth and breadth” of U.S. sanctions and export controls will “only grow.” He also said they are already causing a “lack of access to key inputs” in Russia. “I would expect to see ongoing contraction in the Russian economy over time,” Woodhouse said.
More sanctions and export controls are coming, he said, declining to provide specifics. “As long as Russia continues on its current course,” he said, “we will continue on our current course.” Although the administration “obviously hopes that at some point that path changes, I don’t think we’ve seen real signs of that,” Woodhouse said.
“I think for the near term, everyone should expect that we will continue on our course,” he said. “We will continue to maintain and even expand the scope and intensity of the measures that we've imposed.”
Other panelists during the event said the sanctions aren’t working as well as they should. Edward Chow, an energy security expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Western governments should increase restrictions on Russian gas by imposing a high import tariff. “Are sanctions on Russia working?” Chow said. “If the objective is to stop Russia's unprovoked, totally unjustified and brutal war against Ukraine, then the obvious answer is no, or at least not yet.”
Olexander Scherba, chief adviser to the CEO of Naftogaz, Ukraine’s largest national oil and gas company, said the U.S. should do more to stop global energy trade with Russia. He said he would support the U.S. imposing secondary sanctions on other countries for buying Russian energy, with some exceptions for close allies in Europe.
Woodhouse stressed that the U.S. and allies are “committed to continuing to maintain and deepen our pressure on Russia,” including limiting Russia’s export revenues from energy trade. “We've heard a number of ideas here, and I can assure you that we continue to develop ideas within the U.S. government, and we listen and we take ideas from discussions like this,” he said. “The urgency that we feel to continue making progress ending this conflict is as intense today as it was at the end of February.”